Runs in the Family: Hurt (A RifT: One Last Goodbye Alternate Ending)
by Zenkx
Summary: Solas has won. Finally. Or did he? Set 15 years after my fanfic, Runs in the Family: Trespasser. [Warning: Character death] [Slightly AU-ish] [Rated M for language] [SolasxTrevelyan] [SolasxOC] [CullenxTrevelyan]
1. Authoress' Notes

Authoress' Notes:

I think my brain is getting a little bit too dark and twisted.

Anyway, this a re-imagining (or alternate ending) to my Fanfic series, Runs in the Family.

Like I said, I think I'm too attached to my Alexandra Trevelyan. So many stories are popping in my head, but it might take a while. I'm still working on my Skyrim one. (SO. MANY. STORIES!)

Like/ Comment/ Subscribe! Or else I'll shove a red lyrium shard up your asschabs. XD

Special credits to Tumblr and Deviantart artist, nipuni, whose art made me dwell in Solavellan hell with her despite of my love for Cullen. XD

Title inspired by Johnny Cash/ Nine Inch Nails song, "Hurt".


	2. Hurt

It was done.

The bald elf with pointed ears, blue eyes and golden armor looked at the castle, smoking and ruined, the scent of blood, burning corpses and death around him. His soldiers wandered the battlefield like he did, granting death to those who were mortally wounded, their swords squelching as they plunged into flesh. He could hear the exaltation of his fellow elves, the groans of the dying all around him, but it did not matter to him. There was only one body he wished to see, one body he would regret not seeing.

"Lethallan…"

He turned, his golden boots squelching in the bloody soil, and he looked up at one of his generals, sitting astride a horse, holding a tall green banner, embroidered with a silver depiction of a wolf. He looked up at the familiar face, and nodded at him, "Abelas."

"She is here, lethallan." The other elf said, shifting the banner in his arm, his face once marked with vallaslin now devoid of marks, "Our People have wounded her gravely. She lies dying on the top of the tower."

"I see." The bald elf said with regret, before turning around and heading to the tower, "Some of these people were my friends, Abelas. Find them and… give them a proper funeral."

The elf nodded, before he tilted his head, "It was the right thing to do, lethallan."

"Is it?" He asked the elf as he walked away, "Sometimes I wonder…"

His sentence lay unfinished as he looked down to see a familiar corpse, clutching a familiar crossbow, one amber eye open in death, half his face sunken after being repeatedly bashed by a fist. He bent over and closed the eye of Varric Tethras' corpse, and his smiling face flashing in the elf's memories. He stood up once again, feeling a sense of dread and regret at his heart as he walked.

His friends… his former allies… fought so bravely. He could see the massive corpse of a Qunari at the courtyard, still standing from being impaled in a spear, and near him was an arrow-riddled corpse of Sera, still holding her bow. A sparkling robe of a burning corpse nearby told him that it was Dorian Pavus, burned into a crisp by a magician's spell, and near him, her shield pierced by a massive broadsword that now embedded her chest, was the body of Cassandra Pentaghast. As he continued up towards the tower, he saw a head with a horned headdress, the body several meters from it… Vivienne. Near her was the body of a soldier, his shield lying useless, his body covering that of a woman's wearing a golden dress, both were killed by a single spear, its shaft embedded on the man before passing through towards the woman… Blackwall and Josephine.

At the bottom floor of the tower, the elf saw Leliana's red hair, her head snapped that it now turned towards her back, her eyes agape in shock and fear from having fallen from such a height. As he climbed up the stairs, he saw a few more familiar faces… each mortally wounded that their blood flowed down the stairs like a miniscule river, trickling down the floors below… Daylen, Maxwell, Solona, Alistair, and Marianna Hawke. An elf with white hair and strange white tattoos lay near that of Hawke's body, and he surmised it was Hawke's paramour, the Tevinter elf named Fenris.

As he reached the landing, his heart twisted at the sight. One of his best friends among his allies, Cole, lay on the floor, his wide floppy hat covering his bloody face, his body protecting a woman with curly blond hair and green eyes, clutching a staff… and he realized it was Alex and Cullen's eldest daughter, Alona. A sword ran through them both, piercing Cole's chest and abdomen, and piercing Alona at her side fatally. Near the balcony were two more corpses, a man with a shield and sword, and a boy, no older than fifteen, clutching a bow. The man, Alex's husband and former templar, Cullen, had his throat slit, his blood pooling under his corpse, while the boy, who the elf surmised was their youngest boy, Fenolas, has a dagger on his back, piercing his heart, his blood staining the floor like his father.

"So… Solas…"

The elf blinked before looking up towards the balcony, seeing a woman lying on the floor, her bright red hair the same tint as the blood that pooled around her. Her left arm was nothing more than a stump, but her right hand held a staff. An ornate dagger pierced her stomach, but she was still alive, her constant bleeding weakening her.

He looked up at the woman's beautiful face, and her green eyes grew watery as Alexandra Trevelyan-Rutherford, former leader of the Inquisition… and his former ally… smiled sadly at him, "I… I knew you would come… Dread Wolf."

The elf named Solas went his way towards her, before kneeling beside her body, "Alex…"

Alex smiled sadly again, "I guess… I've always known… that it would come to this."

Solas nodded, "Forgive me. This is not… the end that I wanted for you."

"It is not the end… I wanted for… anyone." Alex said, her voice weak, "But… you have always been a… determined prick. I knew you couldn't tear down the Veil… not with me still alive to stop you."

Solas nodded, "And you almost did… I could feel the efforts of your resistance."

Alex snorted, "But still it was not enough. You've grown… powerful, Solas."

"Indeed." He agreed, and Alex silenced as she looked up at him. She raised her right arm up, reaching for his face, and Solas took her hand, grasping it in both of his. "I'm sorry, vhenan…"

Alex snorted, but as she exhaled, blood bubbled from her nose, causing it to trickle down her cheek, "You're sorry for fighting for what you believe in? Don't… be an idiot." She said, her voice rattling, "I just… wished you didn't have to kill… them."

Solas turned his head to look behind him, at the corpses of her family, "I ordered my men to not harm your children, but I could see that they fought as well. They were very brave."

Alex coughed… her way of laughing… and blood bubbled up her lip. "Well, when Cullen's your father, he expects you to be the best soldier… or mage… there is."

"I expected as much. Cullen is a hard commander to please." Solas said quietly, before looking down at her face again. Alex's eyes looked at him sadly, and she tried to take a breath again, but she flinched at the pain. "Are you… going to tear down the Veil now? Now that I'm…"

"I have grown powerful enough to tear it down without a Foci, yes." Solas said and she nodded, "Show… show me."

Solas stilled for a moment, but he wrapped his arms around her back and under her legs, lifting her up from the floor. The movement caused her to seethe in pain, but didn't say a word as Solas stepped forward from the balcony. Alex watched as Solas' face tightened in concentration, his eyes emitting a bright light, before there was a crack like a whip and an explosion that echoed through the air. The sky lit green, and flashes of lightning slashed the clouds as, for the third time in her life, a giant Rift in the sky opened, tearing open the Veil in an even faster rate than when she previously encountered. Balls of greenish fire rained down around them, and Alex heard screams echo through the din.

The light in Solas' eyes extinguished as he finished opening the Veil, and he looked down at Alex, to see her face turning white, her blood trickling down her lip. He shifted her so that her head lay on his shoulder and chest, as he felt his eyes twinge painfully.

"You've grown… strong." Alex said, her voice becoming softer and more strained from the pain. She was staring at his face, her eyelids barely open. Solas could feel the warm of her blood flowing from down his chest, his stomach and down his legs, and the contrast of it against the cold air made him shiver. Alex's breath was getting shallow, but she turned her eyes towards the mountains around them, at the stench of burning flesh, blood and wood, and at the massive Rift above them.

"Here is what… you wanted, Solas." Alex said, her eyes dimming, "Here is… your empire of dirt. I hope it was… everything you ever dreamed it to be."

Solas' blue eyes watered as he looked down at her, "Alex… _ma vhenan…_ I am sorry. I am so sorry…"

Alex chuckled, causing more blood to flow from her lip, "No. Solas… _I'm_ sorry." She said, weakly raising her hand and running a finger from his temple down to his chin, smearing his face with blood, "You see, I was loved. I felt love. And I loved in return… I had everything… I could ever want in my life." She smiled bitterly as her hand lowered, "But the question is… will you?"

Solas' eyes widened in shock at her words, just as Alex gave another rasping inhale, causing more blood to run down her chin. Her eyes looked at him widely, and he watched as the pupils in her eyes expanded, her green irises consumed by blackness, as she exhaled and her breath finally stilled. He felt weakened, as if his own life force exited his body at the same time she breathed her last. His legs gave way as he fell down to his knees, into the puddle of her blood that had pooled under him. The light in her eyes… the light that he so loved to see, faded off, and her body, once was warm and smelling of lavenders, grew cold.

The grief inside him crawled up from his stomach to his chest, its invisible hands grasping at his neck, making it hard to breath and causing him to choke as memories of her flashed before his gaze. Her warm smile, her tinkling laugh, her brave but blood splattered face, the softness of her fingers on his skin, the sweetness of her lips when they kissed… the warmth and scent of her body when they embraced…

His mouth opened into a grimace, looking up at the greenish sky, as his eyes burned with tears. His arms tightened around Alex's corpse, cradling her to his chest, as if he was squeezing the very last essence of her life from her, but her cold, unyielding body never moved.

She is dead. She will never wake up.

This was his reality now.

 _This is real._

His scream of remorse was unheard amidst the cries of the dying.


End file.
